Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Johan Joseph Zoffany, 1733–1810, German, active in Britain (from 1760)
Title:
A Hindu Brought to the River Ganges to Die, at Ghazipur
Date:
1788
Materials & Techniques:
Black chalk, red chalk, and white chalk on moderately thick, slightly textured, blue laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 10 5/8 x 13 5/8 inches (27 x 34.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite on upper center verso: "[ . . . ] 28 Aug. distance a Hindu brought to the Watter to die| his Daughter officiating the Death benevolent Service - doth| to give him So much Ganges Watter till it Stops his Breath | being given w[. . .] by their Docttors this Man deith Very hard | [d . . .cks] to the River being Weary Long I Saw him Die | Nov 29-88 in Sight of Bazar- Captain Hardaph | B. Zoffany"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.4.1447
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
landscape | genre subject | swing | games | death | children | Hinduism | roots | tree | rivers | fort | stone
Associated Places:
Ganges
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Johan Zoffany RA (Royal Academy of Arts, 2012-03-10 - 2012-06-10)

Johan Zoffany RA (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-10-27 - 2012-02-12)

From Merchants to Emperors - British Artists in India 1757-1930 (The Morgan Library & Museum, 1986-05-01 - 1986-07-31)

From Merchants to Emperors - British Artists in India 1757-1930 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986-10-02 - 1987-01-04)

John Zoffany (National Portrait Gallery, 1977-01-14 - 1977-03-27)
Publications:
Mildred Archer, India and British Portraiture, 1770-1825, London, 1979, pp. 164-165, 498, fig. 102, ND1327 I44 A72 (YCBA)

Hindu brought to the Ganges to die, Illustrated London News, vol. 226, April 30, 1955, p. 785, Illustrated London News Historical Archive

Pratapaditya Pal, From merchants to emperors : British artists and India, 1757-1930, , Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1986, pp. 110, 112, fig. 105, N8214.5 I5 P25 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Martin Postle, Johan Zoffany, RA : Society Observed, , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2011, pp. 154-155, 285, no. 98, fig. 142, NJ18 Z68 + A12 2011 Oversize (YCBA)

Romita Ray, Inscribing Asymmetry : Johan Zoffany's Banyan and 'The Extension of Knowledge', , South Asian Studies, vol. 27, Oxfordshire, September 2011, pp. 188-189, Art Full Text

Sotheby's sale catalogue : Catalogue of fine eighteenth and nineteenth century drawings and paintings : 20 March 1963, Sotheby's, London, March 20, 1963, p. 4, lot 6, Auction Catalogues (YCBA)

Penelope Treadwell, Johan Zoffany : Artist and Adventurer, , Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2009, pp. 382-383, NJ18 Z68 T74 2009 (YCBA)

Mary Webster, Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1976, p. 90, no. 127, NJ18 Z68 W43 (YCBA)

Mary Webster, Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2011, pp. 532, 540, 544, figs. 400 & 410, NJ18 Z68 W43 2011 + (YCBA)
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:12903